PWNER fuels talk on regional approach to cross-border trade

The economic development leaders at the Pacific Northwest Economic Region Summit in Edmonton largely agreed that cooperating as a region is critical for navigating what's been described as a trade war between the United States and Canada. Instead of focusing broadly on relations between Ottawa and Washington, D.C., PNWER is dialed in on the collaboration between the 10 states, provinces, and territories that make up the North American northwest to bring mutual prosperity, said Britt Raybould of the Idaho House of Representatives as she replaced outgoing PNWER president Travis Keisig, Saskatchewan's environment minister, on the final day of the summit at the JW Marriott on July 22.

The day concluded with a keynote from Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute CEO Cam Linke, who echoed Raybould and other speakers. "The challenges we have on both sides of the border around the large land mass, being big economic drivers of the country in the critical mineral areas and energy areas — we're hitting the same problems," he said. "We have this ability to work together to really build an incredible unified West." The barriers, though, are many. Speakers touched on the need for harmonized regulation and incentives for trade, especially within energy. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump escalated his opposition to renewal of the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement and threatened 50% tariffs on some Canadian exports, though not oil.

Indeed, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra kicked off the summit on July 20 by saying that Alberta and Saskatchewan make the "most compelling" case for meeting U.S. oil needs. He said he believes a Canada-U.S. trade deal will eventually be reached and suggested the two countries could partner on critical minerals. The same day, Premier Danielle Smith spoke to domestic energy project developments with export potential, saying she projects the new West Coast pipeline to be shovel-ready by September 2027. Also on the pipeline front, Montana Renewables CEO Bruce Fleming outlined his hopes for a pipeline between his state and Calgary for sustainable aviation fuel during a panel with the Edmonton International Airport's Marion Chivot-Legris and others.